RALEIGH – Brandon Mitchell and Pete Thomas will find out which one will be N.C. State’s starting quarterback on Wednesday. The rest of us will have to wait until just before kickoff of the Wolfpack’s season opener against Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

“We’ve talked with all of the quarterbacks about where they stand and what they need to work on,” coach Dave Doeren said Monday at his first regular weekly press conference. “There isn’t a magical count that we’ve talked about with those guys or first play or anything like that yet.

“By the end of the practice Wednesday I think there will be a real firm grasp on those guys parts. I’ve told both of them that they need to be ready to be our guy … to be ready when their name is called. They’re both excited. I think they know in a 12-game season that’s a good possibility.”

Mitchell and Thomas are the two survivors of what began as a five-man battle for State’s quarterback job.

Mitchell

Mitchell is a 6-foot-4, 239-pound graduate student who transferred from Arkansas this summer. He completed 25 of 43 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns in limited action at quarterback during his career the Razorbacks while catching 17 passes for 272 yards after being moved to wide receiver last year.

At 6-6, 234, Thomas is more of a classic dropback passer than Mitchell. He started for two seasons at Colorado State, passing for 4,269 yards and 18 touchdowns before sitting out last season under NCAA transfer rules.

Although Doeren has been much more positive in his comments about Mitchell than Thomas during preseason camp, he insisted Monday that the competition is still ongoing. He said both quarterbacks continue to share snaps equally with the first team at practice.

Thomas

“That’s the thing with the no-huddle, you get so many reps,” Doeren said. “Brandon and Pete will both get similar rep counts and based on how fast we get through what we script, sometimes you’ll get double what you thought you were going to get.

“There’s very rarely a practice where you don’t feel like you got enough work for those guys and sometimes the third quarterback will get some.”

Doeren said he has been impressed with the consistency shown by both of his quarterback candidates.

“I haven’t seen a bad day yet, so obviously that’s encouraging,” the coach said. “They’ve had some bad plays but you just coach them through it. I think you kind of expect that a little bit.

“One thing I’ve tried to continue to express to both of them is that it’s not their job to win the game for us, it’s their job not to lose it and just distribute the football, make smart choices and they both have God-given abilities as a thrower. Both of them can throw the football. They don’t need to make perfect throws, … just execute the game plan.”